China's Xi'an to hold 2019 FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup in October

XI'AN, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Xi'an, the capital city of Shaanxi province, will hold the FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup on October 2-6, 2019, according the FIBA's official website on Thursday.

As the hometown of the Terra Cotta Warriors, Xi'an held the first edition of FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup on October 3-7, 2018. 20 men and 20 women's teams from 33 nations and regions participated the competitions.

Russia achieved an incredible double in the groundbreaking edition. Chinese men's U23 3x3 team failed to reach the last four, while the women's team was eliminated in the group stage.

In the 2019 edition of FIBA 3x3 U23 World Cup, Only seven countries will send both their men's and women's U23 national team to China including China, Italy, Mongolia, Netherlands, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.

The USA will make its debut at the competition along with other nine new nations and regions, which had secured the World Cup tickets by their positions in the FIBA 3x3 rankings.

"Besides its glorious past in China's history, Xi'an is a metropolis that has a lot in common with 3x3, in terms of being modern, dynamic and spectacular," said Wang Libin, president of Shaanxi province basketball association.

As the vice president of Chinese Basketball Association, Wang added that the 3x3 world elites' clashes would help expand the popularity of b-ball all over China.